‘Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance that he himself has spun, take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefor not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning’ (Lundstrom, M & Lundtrom, T.P pg 4, 2020). This quip resonates as I gaze upon online archives of various Shibari suspensions and flit through the comments that range from adoration to confusion as per the title above.

Whilst I’d love to get all bound up in rope, our purpose here is to auto ethnographically explore our media niche, mine being the focused on the content creation of Shibari on Instagram because as Thoreau said, ‘it is not worth it to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar’ (Lundstrom & Lundstrom 2020, pg 16). There is obviously a proliferation of content across other platforms such as podcasts and the NSFW affordances of the r/shibari subReddit; but Instagram offers a centralised snapshot of photo’s, videos, descriptions and links where sentiment can be observed.

Rope used for shibari is typically made out of Jute and comes in lengths from 3 to 10 meters, and you can affix more rope to a tie should you need it. This is a metaphor for this ethnographic adventure as I mull over how long a piece of string is. Put it plain, Jane ! Ok, we need tools to shape and qualitatively conduct the research and the first I will be utilising is Narrowing. This pertains to a tight focus, ascertaining what doesn’t belong and the realisation that a niche can be narrow yet deep. That means I won’t be including everyone and myriad platforms in my research.

The Field site above is a preliminary tool to map out my chosen niche and outlines my basic interaction with this content creation albeit in a mundane fashion. I will be engaging in a dual consciousness perspective by both observing others and creating my own content to tether further interaction. This leads to conceptualising where Creswell states, ‘the sign of a good thinker is the ability to conceptualise in a simple way as well as in a complex way’ (2016, p.34). This illuminates the need to develop a research question.

My previous post nods to some instagram accounts that are successful on the platform and my base observations thus far have determined that their frequent posting, accessible content and safe space ethos are to credit for this. Lundstrom et al. muses over whether culture is a patterned conduct or a frame of mind, so I begin to frame my question. In a fragmented landscape of online connections are we participating in Shibari communities as a form of self love and connection?

Culturally this niche appears to attract a predominantly western perspective with an interwoven influence of traditional Japanese masters. This blend see’s a dilution of the craft from direct lineage to broader adaptations that suit the creators persuasions.

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I love reading the comments on Shibari posts and reels, they are 90 percent encouragement and 10 percent of people thinking they’ve stumbled into a weird sex cult.